In message , at 14:44:28 on
Tue, 11 Aug 2009, Recliner remarked:
Every "traditional" shop near where I live, be it a corner shop or in
one of the several parades, is still open as a shop. They aren't
generally selling groceries any more (apart from a few specialist
deli's) but they are selling something.

I wonder how many of those are estate agents or bank/building society
offices? And, of course, you now have mobile phone stores, pizza
delivery outfits, etc.

One of the odd things is that my town has only one mobile phone shop
(Carphone Warehouse) and it is literally the shop furthest from the
centre. There must be some retail database that all the phone companies
use, to choose new sites, which scores the place too low.

There aren't many estate agents, but plenty of banks and building
societies. All of these need staff, however.

There is just one pizza delivery place (a tiny delivery/pickup-only
Pizza Hut). Nearby is a Pizza Express, ironically in a building that
used to be a Building Society (it closed, rather than relocated).
--
Roland Perry